IATA has commended the significant progress made by governments at the 40th Assembly of ICAO.
Environment was at the top of the agenda, and after some robust discussions between states there were two critical outcomes. The ICAO Council will report to the next Assembly on options for the adoption of a long-term aspirational goal for reducing carbon emissions in international aviation; and the Assembly passed a resolution that reaffirmed and strengthened its support for the successful implementation of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) – the world’s first global carbon offsetting scheme.
A decade ago the aviation industry agreed a long-term goal to cut aviation emissions to half the 2005 levels by 2050 and is working on a pathway to achieve that goal. This Assembly marks the first time that ICAO member states have agreed to consider a long-term goal for governments to reduce aviation emissions.
“Sustainability is critical to earning aviation’s license to grow and spread its many economic and social benefits. Decarbonizing the sector is a major challenge. Our focus is on cutting emissions to half 2005 levels by 2050 and we are making consistent progress. Flying today is 17.3% more fuel efficient than a decade ago. From 2020 – with the help of CORSIA – the sector’s growth will be carbon neutral. The strong support of governments for developing a UN backed long-term goal for reducing emissions would support us in those efforts and take us to the next step. National policy measures aligned to a global long-term emissions reduction goal will enable the industry to work even more effectively on crucial opportunities such as commercializing sustainable aviation fuels and more efficient air traffic management,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
“We need to implement CORSIA successfully. It’s essential to our promise of carbon-neutral growth. This Assembly has sent a clear message that governments are committed to CORSIA and want to broaden participation from the voluntary stage. We look forward to seeing these commitments delivered as CORSIA begins – particularly by those states that are undermining CORSIA with additional taxes or charges,” said de Juniac.
The Assembly also made decisions on other critical issues. For example, it asked the ICAO Council to develop a work program on accessibility for passengers with disabilities, resolved to urge states to ratify the Montreal Protocol of 2014, which modernizes measures to deal with unruly passengers, and endorsed the IATA One ID project, which highlights the benefits of biometric recognition to secure and facilitate the passenger clearance process.